


Distraction

by Tarlan



Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: trope_bingo, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 18:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8411740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: Another dinosaur incursion, and this time Lester is willing to play the hero of the moment, especially if it gains him favor in the eyes of the strangely different Nicholas Cutter.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For **Trope Bingo** Round 7: au: royalty/aristocracy/feudal

"Lord Bexley!"

James Peregrine Lester, 2nd Viscount Bexley, turned with an aggrieved air and stared down the handsome professor, Dr. Nicholas Cutter.

"For heaven's sake, what is it now, Cutter? Was restitution for your damaged apparel not sufficient?"

"Yes, of course, but I have a matter of greater urgency. Another anomaly had opened in Hampstead Heath not more than a few miles from here. Use of your personal helicopter would have us there in sufficient time to ensure no creature from past or future has encroached upon the present."

Lester frowned slightly at the strange turns of phrase but shrugged it off as unimportant.

"And if it has?"

"I would still protest the exotic zoo Leek has proposed. These creatures belong in their own time line, and not paraded for the titillation of the general public."

Lester sighed and waved a hand, bored with the argument between Cutter's team of specialists and Lester's private secretary, Sir Oliver Leek.

"Do what you must, Cutter," but as Cutter turned to rush away, Lester had a second thought. "No wait. I shall accompany you in the gyrocopter this time."

Cutter gave him a less than approving glare but Lester brushed his irritation aside. According to the research of the young, but admittedly brilliant, Connor Temple, these anomalies had the potential to cause serious changes in history that might not work out so favorably for certain parties in the present, including himself. Though the loss of some of the more undesirable elements in His Majesty's government might improve Lester's political standing. Certainly he had hoped for a higher position than the one presented to him as overseer of the Anomaly Research Center.

Lester adjusted his red silk puff tie, straightening the turned-down collar as was fashionable these days before smoothing the creases in his frock coat. He spared another moment to tease the cuffs of his dress shirt in order to show off the hideously expensive Tanzanite cuff-links that matched his tie pin. As they exited the gyrocopter he noticed Nicholas cut a dashing figure in attire more suited to running around in any but the most extreme environment, and for a moment Lester wished he had taken time to exchange his dress shoes for boots. As it was he had to make his way carefully across the heath and through the woods, irritatingly aware his hand-stitched shoes might be ruined before this day was out. Still, it was not often he gained the opportunity to spend time watching Nicholas in the field, and despite the detrimental affects upon his attire, it was an agreeable diversion from the cut and thrust of office politics.

The anomaly was as beautiful as he recalled from a previous adventure, with shards of light glittering like diamonds suspended in the air. Nicholas was studying the ground with Miss Maitland, who had hitched up her long skirt in a most deplorable manner, revealing her shapely ankles. It appeared Mr. Temple had also noticed.

"Mr. Temple, perhaps you could focus on your instruments rather than on Miss Maitland."

Temple looked suitable chastised as he set up the strange device that could lock down the anomaly to prevent any further intrusions but it appeared they were already too late to prevent one such creature, judging by the uncomfortably large animal tracks leading towards the lake.

"By the heavy, five-toed impression I would guess Ankylosaurus or another large herbivore," Miss Maitland stated, and Lester bowed to her greater knowledge.

"Herbivore. Well, that has to be more favorable than a carnivore. At least I don't have to worry about it eating people. After all, there are only so many 'man attacked by wild cat' stories even I can dish out to the complacent general public before even they become too suspicious," he added, gaining a rare smile back from the usually doleful Cutter.

Lester loved to see the man smile, though the most recent animal intrusions had left Nicholas with very little to fill him with cheer. The predators from the future, in particular, had caused such havoc until they were returned from whence they came, and another event leading into the distant past had apparently changed history quite dramatically. Certainly Nicholas had returned from that event dressed most peculiarly and with a version of events that had erased even their current monarch from his throne. It was hard to believe there had existed another time line where people took such umbrage at the most unimportant matters; a king could not marry an American socialite double-divorcee, and their offspring, conceived out of wedlock, could not be crowned king upon his father's death. In Cutter's version of history, Lady Elizabeth Windsor had been crowned Queen in 1952 upon the death of her father, the current king's uncle. More importantly, in the time line described by Cutter, people had the most baffling disapproval for love outside of the one man-one woman ideology, which was swept aside as an unthinkable sense of entitlement as far back as the Ancient Greeks.

Such a savage society, he thought, glad to be a part of this time line.

Sadly, Lester had yet to convince this Nicholas Cutter that his intentions towards him were honorable. Though he believed he had seen some thawing over the past two weeks once he made it known that Lady Bexley was an honorary title only, following their divorce several years earlier.

An hour later, Nicholas and his team had tracked down the errant Ankylosaurus and was now in the process of trying to convince the large animal to go back through the anomaly. Unfortunately, time was growing short as the anomaly was already beginning to fade around the edges as the field slowly collapsed. They had but a few minutes remaining and the creature seemed more intent on stripping foliage from a nearby tree. Nicholas had tried all manner of inducements including pulling off his frock coat and waving it around his head, but all to no avail.

Lester frowned as a thought occurred to him. He had seen how the bulls in Spain reacted adversely to the color red so, carefully, he unpinned his tie and placed the expensive Tanzanite pin into the top pocket of his frock coat. He un-clipped the puff tie from his neck before yelling to gain the creature's attention, waving the bright red material above his head. It startled, lashing out with its clubbed tail and almost felling a tree before charging towards him. At the last moment Lester stepped to the side, throwing the red puff tie through the opened anomaly, and the Ankylosaurus followed.

Perhaps only seconds later the anomaly faded and died, leaving Lester standing in the woods perhaps ten feet away from an awed Nicholas Cutter. It felt as if Nicholas was truly looking at him for the first time since his excursion through an anomaly all those weeks earlier, where he had changed so dramatically upon his return. He approached Lester, his smile widening with each step.

"Well done, James," Nicholas stated, and Lester smiled at hearing his name fall freely from Cutter's lips once more.

"What else could a man do when you seemed so dead set against Leek's exotic zoo?" he responded dryly.

Nicholas nodded, still smiling. "The perhaps dinner tonight... to explore our options?"

He did have a prior engagement for dinner, but for once Lester wanted to put pleasure before business. Olive Leek could regale him with more of his harebrained ideas another day he decided, so he nodded his assent. Perhaps later he might lament the loss of his favorite puff tie but at this precise moment, the chance to engage Nicholas in far pleasurable pursuits was well worth it.

END  
 


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